Court releases convicts for retrial |01 December 2006

The first case was of Jude Evans Jules, who was convicted for sexual interference with a child and incest, and jailed for eight years.

The appellant was unrepresented during the trial, insisted that he would defend himself and pleaded guilty to both counts.

Judge Stephen Bwana was presiding over the court and reviewed the cases sitting with Justice Jacques Hodoul and Justice Gupta Domah.

Jules was appealing against both conviction and sentence.

The other person released pending his retrial is Francis Constance who was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for burglary on La Digue by a magistrate’s court sitting on Praslin.

He later appealed to the Supreme Court which upheld his conviction and sentence, a decision Constance contested during the just ended sitting of the Court of Appeal which said the trial procedures were faulty and ordered fresh hearings.

There were a total of 26 cases before the Court of Appeal. One was withdrawn by the lawyer representing the appellant, four were adjourned to the next sitting and judgments, in a majority of the other cases upholding of earlier Supreme Court decisions, were delivered.